In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs, the en banc Sixth Circuit (in Memphis Center for Reproductive Health v. Slatery) has unanimously vacated a district court’s preliminary injunction against two provisions of Tennessee abortion law. One of the provisions bars abortion, except in the event of a medical emergency, once a baby’s heartbeat is detected (typically around six weeks of gestational age). The other bars abortions sought for discriminatory reasons—specifically, on the basis of the child’s race, sex, or condition of Down syndrome. (The Sixth Circuit’s one-sentence order is appended on the last page of Tennessee’s emergency motion to vacate the injunction.)
Congratulations to Tennessee attorney general Herbert H. Slatery III on his vigorous and ultimately successful defense of the provisions.
A Sixth Circuit panel had initially affirmed the district court’s order, with Judge Amul Thapar dissenting as to the discrimination ban. (I will have a post next on my just-published Texas Review of Law & Politics article on Thapar’s outstanding opinion.) The en banc Sixth Circuit granted review of the panel decision last December.